Mass Chinese wedding in Shanghai, China. Fifty four Chinese couples getting married enter a ceremony hall. People gather outside the hall. The couples, one after the other, receive their marriage licenses at the Shanghai Municipal Council. The couples walk out of the hall. The couples sit in a group pose.

Sign over American Embassy in China. Colonel William Mayer, former military attache in that embassy relates events precipitating Second Sino-Japanese war. Scenes of the Marco Polo bridge near Peking, on night of July 7, 1937, as Japanese artillery bombards the area. Animated map shows movement of Japanese forces out of Manchuria to occupy Peiping and Tientsin. Victorious Japanese troops stand atop a building, raising their flags and shouting cries of victory. Japanese army officers sit around a table smiling and contended and others walk in a group. Chinese artillery crews are seen retaliating as they fire field pieces at Japanese positions in Shanghai. Shells explode in background, and Chinese infantry advance through damaged buildings and rubble. Animated map shows Shanghai and other cities, and film transitions to view of the bustling city of Shanghai on the Yangtze River. In the seaport, large ocean liners and freighters, as well as tug boats and Junks, are seen. What looks like a Japanese Tachikawa Ki.54 Type 1 transport plane takes off over a Chinese pagoda. Double-decker buses travel through the streets. Rickshaws are also seen. Map outlines the foreign residential areas of the French Concession and the International Settlement. American, British and Japanese flags are shown in the International Settlement. Detachments of troops from Japan, Britain, France, and United States Marines are seen. A U.S. Marine is posted as a sentry at the Shanghai Power Company. Coolies carry heavy bucket on a long pole. British, French and Japanese troops also performed sentry duties. Japanese troops and armored cars are seen. A scuffle breaks out in August, 1937, and Japanese soldiers start moving in trucks, take up firing positions, and begin firing guns from their armored cars. Map shows Chinese counterattack pushing the Japanese contingent toward the Khangpoo River. Next it shows Japanese warships and reinforcements in the Yangtze River and their advance toward Woosung and Shanghai. Views of Japanese warships bombarding the shore and large explosions from their striking shells. Beachhead is shown South of Shanghai, where two divisions of Japanese infantry are seen arriving in landing craft. They advance across the fields toward Shanghai. Map shows Chinese withdrawals to West and South, toward Nanking and Hangchow. Chinese medics along with infantry march in retreat. Japanese pilots are seen being briefed. Next, Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers are seen in flight, and bombardiers and other crew in them. Bombs falling on the city. Civilians running for cover as bombs explode. Aichi D3A1 aircraft dropping bombs. The Shanghai waterfront being bombed and civilians running.

The Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. A vessel in the Huangpu River. A sail boat and junks on the water. Several buildings in view on the shore. Several sail boats in the river. A paddle wheel steam boat on the water. Boats anchored to the shore. Views of the Shanghai Bund along the western bank of the Huangpu River. Several vessels in the river. The Camelback Truss Waibaidu Bridge (world's first all steel bridge) also known as the Garden Bridge, spanning Suzhou Creek at the Huangpu River. Several buildings at the Shanghai Bund in view including the Headquarters of the Shanghai Branch of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (now known as the HSBC Building or the Municipal Government Building) at number 12, The Bund, and the Customs House at number 13, The Bund, and the China Bank of Communications Building at number 14, The Bund. Also the China Merchant Bank Building and the North China Daily News Building (now the AIA building). Other Bund buildings also seen.

Film opens showing British Shanghai Light Horse 'A' Company parading along Bubbling Well Road in Shanghai, China, past crowds who have turned out in numbers to cheer for the International battalions of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps (SVC). Visible, in the background, is the clock tower on the clubhouse of the Shanghai Racing Club. View shifts to the reviewing stand, where Mr. Cornell Franklin, Civil Commandant and Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, stands in front of military officers, Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Noble, Major General Telfer-Smollett, Colonel Price, Colonel Andreini, Lieutenant-Colonel Perretier, and Commander Takeda. Next, a contingent from 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, shouldering rifles with fixed bayonets, execute eyes left as they march past the reviewing stand. A large crowd of spectators watches the parade from a stands set up near the reviewing stand. Next, Armored cars of the SVC Armoured Car Company, drive past in a column. Photographers take pictures. Japanese naval officers are seen in full dress uniforms, watching the parade. Led by a mounted officer, another formation of SVC soldiers march past, shouldering rifles with fixed bayonets.

The Battle of Shanghai, September 1937. Japanese planes in flight over Shanghai. Pilots in the cockpit. A hand dials a control to drop bombs on the underlying city. Explosions as bombs hit the target. The citizens flee. A plane drops bombs on a bridge as people are crossing it. The bridge collapses. Citizens in the streets. Vehicles on the streets of Shanghai. People in runner pulled rickshaws. Dead Chinese people on the streets. A cloud of smoke rises over the city. Gate to the Chinese Forbidden City opens to reveal the Temple of Heaven. A Ming Lion statue. A time line shows the advent of different civilizations-- A milestone with 1776 written on it indicates the time when Washington crossed the Delaware River. Another milestone shows 1492. A picture of Columbus's ship. Yet another milestone reads 476. Pictures of ancient Roman Empire. A milestone reads 1440 B.C. A statue of Moses. A milestone reads 1880 B.C. A scene of the pyramids depicts the Egyptian civilization. Another milestone reads 2200 B.C. Shows a road leading to Chinese civilization. . A man carrying two baskets on a pole walks by a statue of Confucius and a horse. Ancient Chinese temple in background. A wall shows Chinese statues of Buddha. An animated map of China. Laborers mining coal in Manchuria. Coal cars filled with coal. In the Gobi desert nomad tribes move with their camel caravan. Himalayan mountains in the Tibet region. Animated map of China shows rivers. Sampans in the Yangtze river. A Chinese farmer plows his field. Chinese soldiers in China. Montage shows the people of China against a crowd of Chinese people.

Japanese army officers examining foreign military equipment. A Japanese worker employing electric drill developed in a Western country. The Japanese freighter, Tatsuno Maru, loading scrap iron at a port in the United States. Other Japanese freighters loading coal and oil for shipment back to Japan. View of the Washington Naval Conference in Memorial Continental Hall, Washington, DC, held in 1921-22 and again in 1927 and 1930, to deal with several lingering issues. Glimpse of Japanese people holding flags while gathered near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Glimpse of Japanese army troops on parade. Japanese Navy warships at sea. A fleet of Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers and Nakajima Ki-27 pursuit planes, parked on an airfield. A loose formation of Ki-27s airborne. Animated map illustrates Japanese fortification of Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall islands in the Pacific. Animated map illustrating China's greater size and population vis-a-vis Japan. Animated map illustrating Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931. New York Times newspaper with headline "Japs Seize Manchuria" hovers over fires burning in Manchuria. Other newspaper headlines reporting on Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia; the Spanish civil war; surrender of Czechoslovakia; invasion of Poland; Nazi assaults on France, Belgium, and the Netherlands; the London Blitz; and Nazi advances against Russia on the Eastern Front. Fnally, a Boston Hearald extra edition headline reports: "Pearl Harbor Bombed." A still photograph of Japanese Baron Tanaka Giichi (on left) with two other dignitaries, circa 1929. Japanese infantry streaming into Manchuria and then celebrating as they walk into local town. A busy street in a Chinese city. Japanese soldiers in Manchuria escorting local prisoners along a street. Animated map illustrating Japananese warships surrounding harbor of Shanghai, China. View from a Japanese ship bombarding Shanghai. Smoke rising from shell striking on Shanghai waterfront. View from land of severely damaged buildings on a street, and a shell exploding in background, as Chinese defenders move to successfully repel the Japanese forces. New map illustrates subsequent Japanese move, annexing Jehol, from occupied Manchukuo, and Korea. Japanese troops entering a town in Jehol. Sun newspaper headline: "League Censures Japan." Chinese diplomat protesting at League of Nations. Japanese troops exiting railroad trains in Jehol. Aisin Gioro Puyi aka Henry Pu Yi, Kangde Emperor (Kang-te Emperor) of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, is seen saluting Japanese troops on parade. Closeup of Puyi wearing shaded glasses, looking directly into the camera. chiang Kai-shek, with other Chinese officers. Reenactment of barbarian forces riding against China and thwarted by the Great Wall. Many Chinese walking in a long line along the Great Wall. Map tracing the Great Wall across China. Aerial view of the Great Wall from overflying airplane. Japanese troops marching through a city gate; infantry climbing a sheer cliff; and helmeted Japanese soldiers marching past civilians in a city. Map illustrated progress of Chinese unification by year 1937. Japanese officers conferring during occupation. Japanese troops leave a barracks, riding in open trucks. A line of the troop trucks moving along the dirt street of a town. The troops climb from their trucks in the town.